Intel Delivers On Storage Transformation

Intel has announced what it describes as major data centre storage advances, reiterating the company’s memory technology leadership. The new technologies are designed to advance data centre storage and deliver innovative solutions to meet the challenges presented by the growing reliance on data.

New Advances Include

‘Ruler’ form factor for Intel SSDs, an all-new solid state drive form factor enabling up to 1PB of storage in a 1U server rack in the future.

An updated SATA family of SSDs for data centre, targeted at HDD replacement.

“We are in the midst of an era of major data centre transformation, driven by Intel. These new ‘ruler’ form factor SSDs and dual port SSDs are the latest in a long line of innovations we’ve brought to market to make storing and accessing data easier and faster, while delivering more value to customers,” says Bill Leszinske, Intel vice president, Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group (NSG), and director, strategic planning, marketing and business development. “Data drives everything we do – from financial decisions to virtual reality gaming, and from autonomous driving to machine learning – and Intel storage innovations like these ensure incredibly quick, reliable access to that data.”

‘Ruler’ Form Factor For Intel SSDs

The new ‘ruler’ form factor, so-called for its long, skinny shape, shifts storage from the legacy 2.5in and 3.5in form factors that follow traditional hard disk drives and the add-in card form factor, which takes advantage of PCIe card slots, and delivers on the promise of non-volatile storage technologies to eliminate constraints on shape and size. The new form factor was created to deliver the most storage capacity for a server, with the lowest required cooling and power needs. The new form factor SSDs using Intel 3D NAND technology will enable up to 1PB in a 1U server, enough storage for 300,000 HD movies, or about 70 years of nonstop entertainment. Both Intel Optane SSDs and Intel 3D NAND SSDs in the ruler form factor will come to market in the ‘near future’, says the maker.

Dual Port SSDs

Dual port Intel Optane SSDs and Intel 3D NAND SSDs have been made to offer critical redundancy and failover, protecting against multiple paths to failure for mission-critical and high-availability applications. Dual port SSDs replace SAS SSDs and HDDs and, with new storage technologies, deliver more IOPS, more bandwidth and lower latency than SAS SSDs. Dual port Intel SSD DC D4500, D4502 and D4600 Series will be available starting in 2017’s third quarter.

SATA SSDs for Data Centres

The Intel SSD DC S4500 and S4600 Series combine a new Intel-developed SATA controller, SATA firmware and what the firm says is the industry’s highest density 32-layer 3D NAND. These storage-inspired SSDs preserve legacy infrastructure, ensuring a simple transition from hard disk drives to SSDs, while enabling data centres to reduce storage cost, increase server efficiency and minimize service disruptions. The new members of the second-generation Intel3D NAND SSD family are available now.